Cristina Banfi “The Facts about English in the Early Years in Buenos Aires”, Argentina

English in the Early Years: Teachers Cristina Banfi, Ph.D,

The Context

What, if anything, do you know about English in the early years in Argentina or in Buenos Aires?

What would you like to know?

The Facts about EEY in Buenos Aires • English within the education system and beyond (state & private, curricular & extra‐ curricular, teachers teach at all) • English (and other FLs) are taught at all levels – Teaching of FLs to YL (year 4) since 1968 and to some year 1 since earlier.

• Who are the teachers?

Some More Facts • 5 FLs are taught in state primary schools • There are Teacher Education programmes in these 5 languages (Pre‐ school/Primary and Secondary/Higher Ed) • People who teach FLs • Network of plurilingual schools that teach 2 foreign languages in primary schools • Privately‐run schools • Large number of private bilingual schools . IB or A levels or the equivalent in English, French, German, Italian. Immersion‐type models from age 2.

• Schools that teach languages as diverse as Japanese, Hebrew, Armenian, Turkish (as well as English), all in the private sector

• Extra‐curricular provision • State‐run language schools for children (English, French, Italian, Portuguese) • Programmes that are free of charge that teach Arabic, Chinese, Korean, etc.

• Large number of private language schools where children, teenagers and adults learn English and other languages.

• CLE ‐ An extensive certification programme that has been running for over a decade in 5 languages and several levels.

Concerns • The good things that are done in primary school don’t always have continuity in secondary schools • We are rapidly running out of teachers (fewer young people want to become teachers, loss of prestige of the profession; world‐wide trend) • 50% of the children in Buenos Aires are in privately run institutions • A tradition of suppressing the language background of the children in our schools • Not developed knowledge about these different programmes in order to learn from them and improve • Learning methodologies that are dominant were designed for other contexts and can’t really be transplanted • When languages other than English are taught, the difficulties in finding teachers, motivating students, getting materials are intensified. In some cases, however, there are ideological pockets of resistance against English and students question why they should learn this language.

• There is an increasing inequality embedded in the system.

• Our system was at its best when change was brought about by innovation rather than reform

The Traditions & Criteria • Long tradition in FL teaching • Increasing need to develop competences in languages • Recognition of the diversity in our classrooms • Importance of reaching all, not only some.

• Policy issues and classroom issues

Advantages of an early start Languages for all FLs as Language Practices Linguistic diversity Provision of teaching materials Whole community participation • Teacher development

• • • • • •

Teachers’ backgrounds • Teacher of English, French, Italian, German and Portuguese – for Preschool / Primary and Secondary / Higher Education

• Innovative initiatives – Preschool teachers with focus on FLs • Translators • Unqualified people who have knowledge of the language and pass an exam

Implementing new policies Governments

Organisations

Gradual implementation • 2009, 1st form • 2010, 2nd form • 2011, 3rd form and increase in the contact hours in whole day schools • Evaluation (Nov. 2011)

Working with teachers • Classroom experiences • Compilation of perceptions • Sharing experiences • Educational value of FLs • Evaluation – Instruments – Analysis of results – Teacher development

Prueba Escrita – 3er grado

Prueba Oral

SEEDS ‐ Collaboration • Teacher development actions • Active participation through blogs, autonomous development • Recording and sharing the experience (beyond anecdotal evidence) • Working with teacher’s association with international support

Sembrar Experiencias, Evocando DiversidadeS Sowing Experiences Evoking Diversities

Things to consider The Driving Forces • Society • Politicians

Factors to consider • Local reality • Stakeholders – – – –

• • • • • •

Children Teachers (all), Unions Heads, supervisors School communities

Existing regulations Curriculum Challenge of universal coverage Need to develop knowledge Long‐term perspective System‐wide reach (Iaies, 2011)

Certainties and Questions • Teachers need to know the language to teach it – – – –

How much? To what extent?

Which variety/model? (Graddol, 1997, Crystal, 1997) Which domains?

How much should they know ABOUT the language?

• Teachers need intercultural competences – – – –

How are they developed?

Is teaching History / Literature a good way?

Which culture? Otherness?

How to move away from encyclopedic knowledge?

• Teachers need pedagogical competences – What is the balance between general and specific?

– Practical vs. theoretical?

– In school? As from when?

• Teachers need to develop other skills (learning to learn, reflecting on practice) • Teachers teach more than the language

Tensions • Ever‐increasing demand for teachers – Growth in all directions (up, down, sideways, amount, intensification, CLIL, from within and without the system, new career paths) – New demands for teacher education programmes (nothing removed!)

– Little change as regards modality

• Loss of prestige of the teaching profession • Who is to educate teachers?

– Educational policy – Private initiative – Who decides what the TE curriculum should be?

• Link between teacher education and employability

Alternatives

cbanfi@gmail.com csbanfi@buenosaires.gob.ar

References • Crystal, D. (1997) English as a Global Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

• Iaies, G. (2011) Los debates de la política educativa en el nuevo milenio. Buenos Aires: Aique.

• Graddol, D. (1997) The Future of English.

London: The British Council.